The lawmaker was known for his anti-Maidan views and called for broad celebrations of the 70th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War

KIEV, April 15 /TASS/. Oleg Kalashnikov, the former parliamentary deputy from the Party of Regions, has been killed in Kiev, the press service of Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.

"Oleg Kalashnikov died of a gunshot wound. Police and investigators are working at the crime scene. Information on the motives and preliminary results of investigation will be announced later," the press service wrote on Facebook.

Ukraine’s Acting Interior Minister Vasily Paskal is supervising the investigative group’s work. "I have taken this crime’s investigation under personal control. You will know about the motives and preliminary results of investigation later," Paskal stressed.

In some of its earlier reports the Ukrainskiye Novosti (Ukrainian News) publication wrote that Kalashnikov had received death threats shortly before he was killed. He called for broad celebrations of the 70th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

Kalashnikov was also known for his anti-Maidan views. He used to organize rallies against the incumbent authorities in Ukraine.

Several members of the former ruling Party of Regions, including former deputy Mikhail Chechetov and Alexander Peklushenko, the former head of the Zaporozhye regional state administration, committed suicides in Ukraine this year.